co.down rock mark 30th aug (late report)

People: me, mark and jordan

Duration: 7am to 4pm

Tide: LW 8am HW 2pm

Weather: excellent, 1mph ssw, 23 degrees and not a cloud in the sky

Bait: lug, mack, hardback shore crabs and clams

Rigs: 2 hook flappers hook size 1 and 4, sliding float and conger gear

Results: coalfish, ballan wrasse, corkwing wrasse and jordan's first ever rockcook wrasse




Report: i'll have to keep this short as i've been flat out at the moment with work and weddings . we decided to take the opportunity of the good weather to try one of our favourite south down rock marks. due to it's location and climb you have only got a small weather window in which it's safe enough to fish so we loaded the car the night before and a dawn raid was in order . we got onto the mark to discover there was another angler from the forum already there doing a bit of SWFF before work and had a few takes already. we've spoken before at this mark and the usual fishy conversation began . but just as we were getting set up he had to hit the road and we wished each other good luck
and said our goodbyes. good having a natter with you again man. we all decided to fish one rod each on the bottom and another on the float. the conger gear was chucked out but never got a touch the entire session. there were a good stream of smallish ballan wrasse and corkwing wrasse caught all day on our float rods and even one good ballan just under 3lb who fell to glof ball sized hardback shore crab under the float . other than the odd massive thump the bottom rods hardly got a look in all day. there were a few nice coalies caught that should have been a hell of a lot heavier than what they actually were. they were as long as the measure but struggled to make 1lb 8oz . poor wee guys looked starved with their caved in bellies and oddly there were no pollock about either at this time last year we would normally get at least 4 pollock pushing 4lb in a single session.... mabey a lack of available food has them off else where in search of food or something. i know that stretch of coast was heavily longlines at the start of spring,, but i was sure there would have still been some nice pollock about. the only pollock of the session was had by mark and it was around 2 lb but thin looking also as it was easily 50cm, so starved looking too??. but sadly it fell off the hook as we tried to lift it up the rocks . as we got to high tide i decided to chuck out a set of feathers for an hour, but not so much as a nibble on them . the high light was jordan messing about with a mini rig down the rock face and getting his first ever rockcook wrasse (yet another one i've never caught ). he waqs made up and the lack of larger fish for him was put behind him as he now had another species over me that i did'nt hear the end of on the way home

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last few pics

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Well done all, a nice session there and some really decent Wrasse.
Congrats on the new species Jordan...

Mick

Still a reasonable result lads, we are obviously not too far away from each other on that mark, from your description of the climb down mate. We have been teasing the big pollack out with the sidewinders at the mo. Seem to be workin well for us!

nice one al and jordan.ya al them coalies look a bit on the thin side r they starved up there on the north coast or wat

good fishing al and jordan well done lads nice rockcook wrasse jordan one more spease to add in your list

Well dons lads & nice Rock Cook Jordan & good Wrasse, strange to see the Coalies that thin this time of the year

well done jordan on the r/wrass lovely colours well
worth the climb al

Not a bad wee session there Al. Well done Jordan on your new species.

congrat's jordan on yet another new species for your list
them coalies are right and thin allrite al' they must be going to weight watcher's

well done lads nice session and a big well done to jordan on the new species

Nice going lads, shame I couldn't make that one Tis true man for the length of those coalies you'd think hey's have a bit more to them.

Well done Al , some nice wrasse there, I can only imagine what the scrap must be like . I;m delighted for the little lad getting the rockcook,,well done Jordan ,, i got one last year and youre right, theyre a beautiful fish. .Nice teatowels too,,,not too overstated,just the right amount of decoration on the side,they really frame the fish well,,,,,,i'm a bit jealous if truth be told

nice one jordan on the rockcook its a deadly looking fish

Well done all, a nice session there and some really decent Wrasse.
Congrats on the new species Jordan...
Mick

cheers mick,, not what we expected from that mark. but still a great day out

Still a reasonable result lads, we are obviously not too far away from each other on that mark, from your description of the climb down mate. We have been teasing the big pollack out with the sidewinders at the mo. Seem to be workin well for us!

cheers paul. yeah we were more up towards the mouth of strangford lough,, just a bit on up from your wee spot . i'll have to arm myself with some leadheads, shads and jelly worms for our next trip out that way. but i was really shocked that we did'nt even get them hitting the feathers . i just hope they have'nt been cleaned out

nice one al and jordan.ya al them coalies look a bit on the thin side r they starved up there on the north coast or wat

cheers brian. i've never seen fish that looked so starved of that size before . funny thing was that we did'nt see the usual shoals of sand eel either.

good fishing al and jordan well done lads nice rockcook wrasse jordan one more spease to add in your list

cheers man. he's not let me forget it either

Well dons lads & nice Rock Cook Jordan & good Wrasse, strange to see the Coalies that thin this time of the year

thanks brian, jordan was made up with the rockcook .

well done jordan on the r/wrass lovely colours well
worth the climb al

sure was ger now i gotta get one

Not a bad wee session there Al. Well done Jordan on your new species.

cheers tom. it was his last day of freedom before the schools started back. so he went back with a smile

congrat's jordan on yet another new species for your list
them coalies are right and thin allrite al' they must be going to weight watcher's

if only we could catch a few that had failed fat camp don

well done lads nice session and a big well done to jordan on the new species

cheers man. i'll pass on the kind mesage

Nice going lads, shame I couldn't make that one Tis true man for the length of those coalies you'd think hey's have a bit more to them.

ahh well man, we have the rest of the month to make up for it

Well done Al , some nice wrasse there, I can only imagine what the scrap must be like . I;m delighted for the little lad getting the rockcook,,well done Jordan ,, i got one last year and youre right, theyre a beautiful fish. .Nice teatowels too,,,not too overstated,just the right amount of decoration on the side,they really frame the fish well,,,,,,i'm a bit jealous if truth be told

cheers dave. i thought they were quite stylish myself not my usual 3 for £1 tea towels

nice one jordan on the rockcook its a deadly looking fish

cheers seanie, love the markings on them

Well done lads great report and great photos as always,and always great to get a new species too so well done Jordan